Henry Brandon (actor)
| Henry Brandon | |
|---|---|
'Babes in Toyland' & 'Beau Geste'
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| Born |
Heinrich von Kleinbach June 8, 1912 Berlin, Germany |
| Died | February 15, 1990 (aged 77) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Heart attack |
| Nationality | American |
| Other names | Harry Brandon Harry Kleinbach Henry Kleinbach Heinrich von Kleinbach |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1932–1989 |
| Partner(s) | Mark Herron |
Henry Brandon (June 8, 1912 – February 15, 1990) was a German-American film and stage character actor with a career spanning over almost 60 years, involving more than one hundred films; he specialized in playing a wide diversity of ethnic roles.
Born Heinrich von Kleinbach in Berlin, Germany in 1912, his parents emigrated to the United States while he was still an infant. After attending Stanford University, where he was a member of the Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity, he trained as a theatre actor at the Pasadena Community Playhouse and subsequently performed on Broadway, continuing to return to the stage periodically throughout his career.
He made his motion picture debut in 1932 as an uncredited spectator at the Colosseum in The Sign of the Cross. In 1934 he played the role of "Silas Barnaby", the villain in the Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy classic Babes in Toyland. In 1936, having until then been performing under his real name of Henry Kleinbach, he adopted the stage name of "Henry Brandon".
He portrayed the villainous manager of an opera company in Our Gang Follies of 1938. He played the character of "Renouf", a deserter from the French Foreign Legion, in the 1939 remake of Beau Geste. In 1940 he featured in the title role of the successful Republic serial Drums of Fu Manchu. In 1943 he played "Major Ruck", a British Secret Agent in the guise of an SS officer in Edge of Darkness. Kleinbach, standing at 6 ft 4" in height, managed to make Errol Flynn look short in the scenes in which they appeared together in Edge of Darkness in spite of Flynn's height of 6 ft 2". In 1948 he appeared as Giles de Rais in Joan of Arc.
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